Lord Mandelson, the secretary of state for business, innovation and skills, will tomorrow defend the creation of his new super-ministry, saying it is crucial to bring universities and colleges into the business branch of Whitehall in order to tackle the recession.

Writing in tomorrow's EducationGuardian, Mandelson describes investing in universities and colleges as being "as fundamental as electricity to a modern globalised economy like Britain" and announces a major review of the future shape of higher education. But in a message directed at vice-chancellors and college principals, he promises that they will retain their centuries-old tradition of independence of government in the new department.

His intervention comes after a week of commentary over the prime minister's decision to create the new Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (Bis), headed by Mandelson. The move placed universities and college at the heart of the government's plans for economic recovery, sparking fears that their cultural and educational roles would be sidelined in the biggest department in Whitehall.

Maintaining and improving further education to help people re-skill through their lives, Mandelson writes, is "an integral part of a sustained recovery, and vital for our long-term economic strength.

"There will always be some who think that higher and further education policy does not belong in a department with business in its title. They assume that universities and colleges will somehow diminish in priority in a new department, or that economic outcomes will be the only benchmark for policy. They are wrong.

"The needs of business and those of higher and further education are not always the same, and never will be. But they can and do touch and reinforce each other in important ways. At the end of the day, they are two parts of a single picture of a Britain that has the knowledge, confidence and character to prosper in a changing world."

He also reveals plans for a new framework for higher education, which will include a renewed focus on expanding student numbers. The plan will "set out how the sector will maintain its contribution to Britain's economic competitiveness in a global economy and extend the opportunity and social mobility that come with education as widely as possible", he writes.

But he warns that universities will have to "get better" at commercialising their research.

The creation of Bis has drawn criticisms from inside the education sector. The University and College Union, representing lecturers, has condemned the move into a department dedicated to commerce.

Senior vice-chancellors are, however, split on the issue. One said: "There are concerns about the fact that there is now no government department with the word education – let alone universities – in the title. But the other school of thought is that we now have access to one of the most significant politicians in the country, who is charged with the most important briefs to tackle the recession. It could be positive."

Tomorrow, the former education secretary David Blunkett, also writing in EducationGuardian, appeals to the government not to abandon adult learning for its own sake in the move. Some 1.4 million places on evening courses have been lost in the last three years alone as the government priority has shifted towards re-skilling people to get jobs.

He writes: "There must be an early statement of intent from the new Department for Business, Innovation and Skills to allay fears that adult learning will not be the Cinderella of public policy, but the pumpkin before the turn of midnight.

"It is a mistake to separate learning for work and for community and personal development. Language classes have dropped sharply; yet, for anyone looking to develop trade in China, learning Mandarin can be a business benefit … Education can transform lives. It fosters dignity, confidence and capability – and investing in it makes sense for individuals and for the health (economic and physical) of the nation."

Last week's reshuffle saw universities and further education swallowed up by Lord Mandelson's business department, just two years after they were split from schools. Polly Curtis looks at what lies ahead